Murders in Silk boasts an intricate plot, masterfully meted out by a terrific author. In a short bio at the rear of the volume we learn the author wrote only four novels; two under his real name and a second pair under the pseudonym Mike Teagle. This one is so good, it’d be worth searching out the others—or maybe we’ll get lucky and Stark House will reprint them a little farther down the road.
The opening pages of the novel catapult us into a murder mystery when our protagonist Tiberius Bixby (aka Tie) observes a alluring fellow traveler who proceeds to stumble upon a man with his throat cut in the women’s rest room. The cops rush to the scene and question everyone in the vicinity of the murder, but unfortunately don’t learning much.
Tie however, learns the name of the femme fatale, Gretchen Jones, who discovered the body. He’s so smitten with her, he irrationally wants to minimize any exposure she has—he saw her and the victim together earlier on the train. Thus, he plays things cagey with the lead investigating officer of the murder, detective Rafe Conner, whom he knows from their days growing up.
The story takes place in 1948, and it those days, believe it or not, the train toilets flushed out onto the tracks. Obviously, there were enough issues with this practice that as trains became more common in urban areas, a containment solution was implemented. But in terms of our story, detective Conner is savvy enough to search the tracks for the murder weapon in case the killer had flushed it. And sure enough they had. It’s a unique knife that Tie fails to mention looks familiar.
As the initial investigation begins, it isn’t long until a second murder breaks and leaves Conner with more questions than he started with. Tie is a clever amateur, who is drawn into the case due to his infatuation with Gretchen. But as good as he his, his sleuthing skills pale in comparison to his old man, Zeb Bixby.
The first 170 pages are told first person by Tie, but when the case finally beats him, and he’s forced to the sidelines, papa takes over the proceedings—and the narrative—to wrap things up in a bow.
One quirk of Teagle/Bordages storytelling. He loves to give his characters multiple monikers. Most times it’s only two, like Zebediah and Zeb, but in some cases it’s more, like with Rat Face aka Salvatore Fiore aka Sal aka Sally. I guess it’s intended to add character depth, but it sometimes gave me pause to wonder who he’s talking about.
The novel includes two love-at-first-sight romances. Tie and Gretchen (mutual), and Tie and the daughter of the second murdered man, Paula Wannerman (one-sided). This second infatuation isn’t really developed, and seems to exist only as motivation for her character to protect Tie from danger.
Despite these minor ticks, the narrative is rich, steeped in period phrases and practices that make the mystery a joy to read. Both thumbs up on this one!
Melody Frane had it all, and she had nothing. She was strikingly beautiful, seventeen, and dirt poor; wandering from town to town working the fields under the tutelage of her drunken, promiscuous mother. Not a promising future.
